Means for pasteurizing and cooling



June 2', 1936. H. c. STEPHENS ET AL 2,042,685

MEANS FOR PASTEURIZING AND COOLING' Filed June 13, 1932 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 2, 1936 I nsrlires .egrenr ornes MEANS FOR PASTEURIZING AND COOLING Henry C. Stephens, Ontario, and Stedman B. Hoar, Claremont, Calif., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Natural Food Products Company, a corporation of Delaware .Application June 1s, 1932, serial No. 616,952 I e'claims. (ol. 12e-272) Our invention relates to pasteurizers and cool- A belt or chain I2, traveling from left to right Y 61's fOr already Canned fOOd PIOdllCtS, and Pal'- in Figures 1 and 2, isled over sheave I3 on the tulally f01 deaalaled liquid fOOd DiOdllCtS- Such end of the tank, under sheaves .I4 and I5 within Products, in spite of the fact that the absence the tank, over sheave I6 on the other end of the 5 0f Oxygen Dreyents to a Considerable extent the tank, and thence to the cooler 32 (to be hereindanger of cooking during pasteurizatlomare nevafter referred to).

Unire ertheless in danger of skin-burning, unless thorn the near side of the tank are the Sym- Quehly agitated and pasteurized with ,great metrieally arranged belt or chain I2a,and sheaves rapidity. Isa, me, 15a and ma. I l0 We are aware of the fact that inthe. past canned At regular intervals along belt or chain I2, l0

goods have been pasteurized in machines which there is carried a bearing II, and corresponding' turned the cans over and over, end-for end. But bearing I'la on belt or chain 92a. Thesebearings we have found that such end-for-end motion does receive the, shafts I8, |8a, each pair of which supnot sufficiently agitate the contentsof cans fully -ports a basket I 9. l packed with dea erated liquid food products, but To simplify the drawing, only three of these I5 rather dependsA for its emcacy upon the presence baskets are shown. Each basket is preferably of a free space (air or vacuum) within the can. made of wire-mesh, and preferably hasboth its Accordingly we have devised our process and aptop and its bottom open, so as to allow free cirparatus for angularly reciprocating such cans, end culation of the hot water. l0 over end. And we-have found further that, even Any convenient means, such as the racks 2li, 20

. in the case of partly filled cans, our method promay be employed to support and secure the cans duces more thorough and more rapid pasteuriza- 2| in the baskets. tion than the conventional method. On each end of each basket I9, is a pinion 22, Accordingly itis the principal object of the 22a. These pinions respectively engage two racks l5 present invention to provide for angularly re- 23, 23a, At each end of each rack there is a 2 ciprocating the cans end for end during passhaft 24, 24a, 25, 25a, slidable in bearings 26, 26a, teurizng. 21, 21a, in the ends of the tank; Also it would A furthe;` object is to make the pasteurizing and obviously be possible to mount these racks in bearcooling a continuous process, by means of a. conings Within the tank, and t0 Operate them by I 304 veyor-system. means which reach over the edges of the tank. v 30 In addition to ourV principal object, we have Shafts 25 and 25a are joined by a crosspiece 28, worked out a number of novel and useful details, through which a motor 29 reciprocates the shafts, which will be readily evident as the description by mea-11S 0f Crank 30 and Pitman 3|- progresses. The cooler 32 has the same internal arrangeour inventio consists irl-the novel parts, and ment as the pasteurizer Il already described, ex- 35 in the combinations and arrangements thereof, cept that the coolerv contains cool water or brine,

which are defined in the appended claims; and of maintained cool by any COIlVenent lneans -wellwhich one embodiment is exemplified in the acknown in the art. v

companying drawing, which is hereinafter par- The motor 29, crank 30, pitman 3|, racks 23,

40 ticularly described and explained. 23a, and pinions 22, 22a, are so proportioned and 40 Throughout the description, the same reference disposed that each revolution of the crank imnumber is applied to the same member or to simparts a rotary oscillation of about 180 to each ofv ilar members. the baskets of llled tin cans so that the longi- Figure 1 is a vside-elevation, partly in section tudinal axis of each can is substantially angularly v (along the line I-I of Figure 2), of our apdisposed to the axis of rotation of the basket, and 45 paratus. is angularly reciprocated through 180, it being Figure 2 is a plan view of said apparatus. obvious from Figures 2 and 3 that the cans are Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section of said apthus placed in the baskets, and are thus reciproparatus along the line 3-3 of Figure 2. cated. When we refer to'longitudinal axis, here I Referring to the drawing; it will be seen that and in the claims, we mean the axis which con- 50 Il is a tank containing water maintained at neots the center of the top of the container with proper pasteurizing temperature (about 131 to the center of the bottom of the container;y top 158 F.) by any convenient means (not shown), and bottom meaning two substantially flat opsuch as circulation or direct application of posed ends.

burners. The rate of progress of the belts I2, I2a is such 525 23, 23a and as to maintain the cans in the heating Waterand in the cooling water just long enough for emcient pasteurizing and cooling respectively.

In our process, the cans are rst lled with deaerated liquid (the deaeration and lling being accomplished in any convenient manner, known to the art). They are then capped and sealed in such a way as to entrapno surface air. They are then placed and secured in baskets en route to tank Il. When theyv reach the lower level of the tank, the pinions 22, 22a engage the racks angular reciprocatlon of the longitudinal axes of the cans begins, and continues until the cans rise again thoroughly pasteurized.

In practice the length of the course of the.

baskets during reciprocation is longer, in proportion to the length' of course in entering and leaving the tank, than is shown (for convenience in illustration) in the accompanying figures.

Cooling takes place in a similar manner in tank 2..

The cans are then unlocked from their baskets, and are sent to storage, the baskets then returning on return reaches (not shown) of the belts l2, i2a; I

The continuous belts are not an essential feature of our invention. Instead the baskets .could well be lowered byl hand, the shafts sliding in guides in the sides of the tanks, until the pinions 22, 22a engage the racks 23, 23a.

Having now described and illustrated one form of our invention, we wish it to` be understood that our invention is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of, parts hereinbefore described, except in so far as such limitations are specified in the appended claims. 1

We claim:

1. In a pasteurizer or cooler, the combination of: a tank for containing a heating or cooling liquid; a conveyor system passing intovthe tank andout'again; aplurality of baskets pivotally carried thereby; at least one pinion on each basket; means for securing food containers in each basket with their longitudinal axes at right angles to the axis o1 rotation of the basket; reciprocating means;

tank, engaging the pinions, and reciprocable by the reciprocating means, whereby each basket is angularly reciprocated in such a Way as to angularly reciprocate the longitudinal axis of each container secured therein.

2. In a pasteurizer and cooler, the combination of a tank for containing a heating or cooling liquid; a second such tank; a conveyor system passing into one tank and out again, and then into the other tank and out again; a plurality of baskets carried thereby; at least one pinion on each basket; means for securing vfood containers in each basket with their longitudinal axes substantially angularly disposed to the axis of rotation of the basket;at least one rack in each tank, engaging the pinio and means for reciprocating the rack, whereby the basket is angularly reciprocated in such a Way that the longitudinal axis of each container is angularly reciprocated 3.4In a pasteurizer or cooler, the combination of a tank for containing a heating or cooling liquid; a plurality of baskets pivotally mounted therein; at least one pinion on each basket; means for securing food containers in each basket with their longitudinal axes substantially angularly disposed to the axis of rotation of the basket; reciprocating means; and at least one rack in the tank, engaging the pinions, and reciprocable by the reciprocating means, whereby each basket is angularly reciprocated in such a way as to angularly reciprocate the longitudinal axis of each container secured therein through an angle of about 180.

4. In a pasteurizer or cooler for the liquid contents of a container, the combination of a tank for containing a heating or cooling liquid; at least one basket therein; means for pivotally supporting the same; means for securing a plurality of food-containers in the basket with their longitudinal axes substantially angularly disposed to the axis of rotation of the basket; and means to angularly reciprocate the basket in such ay way as to angularly reciprocate the longitudinal axis of each container secured therein through an angle of about 180.

5; In a pasteurizer or cooler for the liquid contents of a container a heating or cooling liquid;

. at least one basket therein; means for pivotally supporting the same; means for securing a plurality of food-containers in the basket with -their longitudinal axes substantially angularly d isposed to the axis of rotation of the basket; and

means to angularly reciprocate the basket in such a Way as to angularly reciprocate the longitudinal axis of each container secured therein through approximately a half revolution sufticient to maintain the contents of the container in acontinuous condition of uninterrupted turbulence, as distinguished from even an approximation to a. forced vortex.

-f 6. In a pasteurizer or cooler for the liquid contents of a. container a heating or cooling liquid; at least one basket therein; means for pivotally supporting the same; means for securing a plurality of food-containers in the basket with their longitudinal axes substantially angularly disposed to the axis of rotation of the basket; and means to angularly reciprocate the basket in such as-way as to angularly reciprocate the longitudinal axis of each container secured therein through' not more than approximately a half revolutionl and yet sumcient to maintain the contents of the con- -tainer ina continuous condition of uninterrupted 

